OT from a post WAY downthread: (redacted for more updated info)

That was one significant bolide today over Chelyabinsk. The shockwave occurred between 2 and 2 and 1/2 minutes after the initial breakup, indicating an altitude of between 125,00 and 150,00 feet. The contrail itself was around two hundred and fifty miles long. (perspective is an odd thing, yes?).

Over a million square feet of glass was shattered in the city. The object was approximately 50 feet in diameter and was probably a chondroid (most incoming objects are), but we can hope for a Palasite body (beautiful stuff).

The altitude of the the breakup caused most of the injuries. People went to the windows to see what the bright light was and were staring at the contrail when the windows blew in. Lots of opthalmic surgeons will be really busy the next few days. Some victims have been airlifted to hospitals in Moscow and St. Pete.

The coincidence of this object, entering the atmosphere at a completely different angle and a much greater speed (30 miles per second!) than the fly-by asteroid which missed us by 17,000 miles today was just that; a coincidence. But the timing indicates that there are, as the Bard wrote, “more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

A fine example of “real world” Earth Science was displayed today. NASA is looking for really big bodies. If this object had come in vertically over LA today, it would have stomped the city into a bloody stain.